"We're taking a train?"
Adrian and Maya nodded at me like I was some stupid novice.
"You two are the most powerful descendants of gods in centuries, I'm a demiwitch, we're on a mission to save people that have been randomly exploding into dust, and we're taking a train?"
They both continued with their irritating shrugging and nodding.
Adrian finally spoke up, "Well, would you rather take a Greyhound? My dad says they suck."
I groaned and fidgeted a bit, "FINE! Let's go before we miss the train and have to take a bus."
............
I felt like an FBI agent. A moment ago, Adrian had passed me a manilla folder over the back of his seat. It would nave been really cool and secretive if I hadn't nearly dropped it and made the old woman next to me look at me like I was insane. I gave her my best "I'm an innocent little girl" smile and she turned back to her magazine. I guess I should take up acting.
Honestly though, woman! The entire train compartment was empty except for the few seats that had Maya, Adrian and I in them and she chose to sit where? Right by me! Thirty empty seats and she chose to sit by the uncomfortable twelve year old. It kind of made me want to offend her in some way, in any way. It also made this a bit harder. And she was invading my personal space. Thanks lady.
The folder contained all of the information that Chiron had been able to gather before we left. Meaning, not much information at all. This whole mission was kind of a shot in the dark but no one really had any choice in that matter. Frankly, I was surprised Chiron had gotten any information at all and stuffed it in this unnervingly thin folder.
The first thing I saw when I opened the folder was the word "Washington," in thick, bold letters.
Washington? The state? Out of all of the places this "villainous character" could have chosen to reside, he chose the generally unnoticed state of Washington? Weak choice.
I read on to find that in the folder Chiron had included the only other speck of evidence that anything similar to this had happened before. The only problem was that there were so many problems with everything written down in... 1976, which happened to be the last time anyone, any normal human or demigod, exploded into dust. They never came back. That didn't help my nerves be calmed down any.
Tanya Versooth was a sixteen year old daughter of Aphrodite, one of the badass ones. She had just gotten back from a mission where she rescued a valuable weapon from some unknown demons in California, and before she even had time to relate the details of the mission to Chiron, she exploded into dust right in front of her boyfriend. Chiron hadn't spoken of this instance since the time it occurred, and had told us so when he handed over the folder to Adrian in the Big House before we departed.
"You must be careful. This is rather... uncharted territory, even for me," Chiron warned us, standing before the three of us without his wheelchair. I had never seen him so worried. Which in turn made me worried. Crap.
Maya tilted her head to the side just as she always did when curious about anything, "You must have seen something like this before, you've seen everything."
Chiron shook his head, "Not everything, my dear. Not everything. But yes, once I did know something similar to happen. There were many differences but it is the only thing I can think of with any possible connections, and we need any connections we can get. Inside this folder you will find the case of Tanya Versooth."
And so we did.
Chiron had kept this to himself for decades? Impressive, and yet, it made me wonder what else the centaur had been keeping to himself for that long. But I couldn't blame him. Some things were just better to not talk about.
I scanned the pages in the folder again and again, committing them to memory as best I could, then handed the folder over the back of my seat to Maya, who grabbed it a bit more roughly than I anticipated. I sat up straighter and turned around to lecture my friend, only to see that the person who'd grabbed the folder, wasn't my friend.
Crap.
Everything was going to crap.
And also going to meaner words I wasn't supposed to say. Words that rhymed with "ham" and "fit." Figure it out.
The person in the seat behind me had green eyes. Not the pretty, human green that makes people ooh and ahh. No, it was like mucus. And it was the entire eye. There was no pupil or whites of the eyes. It was just... gross. I didn't know how to describe it better. Part of me wanted to believe that he just had a very bad sinus infection and it had affected his eyes too.
What really freaked me out, though, was when his lips parted and teeth, sharpened as if by a knife, made their appearance. And they were gross too!
I scoffed, "Dude, I know we're not best buds or anything, but can I please recommend a toothpaste brand?"
He growled, baring those teeth and bad breath even more.
I obnoxiously waved my hand in front of my face to try and get rid of the stench, "Whew! That's nasty!"
The woman beside me looked horrified at my lack of manners, as she couldn't see the thing sitting behind us clearly through the Mist.
Well, lady, sometimes a little constructive criticism, even of strangers, is the best way to improve upon the world. And this guy needed some improving upon. Nevermind the fact that he wasn't human and probably didn't have manners himself.
"Personally, I have always used Colgate," I continued, "But the Crest brand is fine. You could try the spearmint flav-"
I didn't get to finish my sentence before the creature had stood, tossed the old woman aside, and hit me hard across the face.
I felt like I was kind of having a bit of de ja vous when the... "thing" started swelling. It was like that day at school all over again! Except this time, I had no idea where the heck Maya was. This freak had taken her seat and slimed it all up, so where'd he put her?
I cocked my head to the side, hand on my hip, "Where's my friend?"
For a moment, I thought the creature was confused, as it stopped in the train aisle and stared at me.
"The blonde? She's about, eh, ye high? Kind of a nerd, hates ugly people... oh wait, that's why! She probably ran away from you."
From behind him, Adrian threw a small knife into the base of the creatures skull, but not before the beast swiped out a giant hand and raked claws across my chest. I felt the skin tear immediately. Of course, I heard the shirt tear and I also heard the beast falling hard to the ground of the train that was still moving.
Thankfully, as I tore away the rest of my shirt I could see that only one of the four scratches was deep enough for concern, although it and the one right below it would probably scar. It wasn't anything that would debilitate me from completing the mission, thank goodness.
Right then, the door to the compartment opened and Adrian and I both jumped to face it, weapons held in fighting position. And then, in came Maya, whistling a tune and chomping away on some crackers she must have gotten at the snack station.
She looked at us with pure shock.
A moment passed.
She unfroze and dropped her crackers on the floor to make a gesture of exasperation, "Seriously guys! I left for like, five minutes! To get a snack! And what were you two doing? This crap."
I collapsed on the seat next to me and just chuckled weakly.
Adrian piped up from where he leaned on the back of one of the seats behind me, "Well, you missed all of the fun, sis."
Maya checked her watch and I watched her eyes widen as she looked back at us, "Three minutes! I stand corrected, three minutes! That's how long you lasted staying out of trouble without me. Congratulations."
We just laughed.
"Think the security guy will come to our compartment soon?" I asked, glancing around at the giant thing still on the floor.
Maya winced, "We probably shouldn't stay to find out," she looked at me with slight concern before asking, "You good to float us out of here? We're passing through Salt Lake City."
I nodded and pulled myself to my feet yet again, wondering how many more times I would have to do that and have it feel as it did now.
I gave a cheesy salute to the old woman who was huddled in another seat, staring at us in shock, and jumped out the window, pulling my friends with me.